With Tired Feet, Gala Attendees Still Have a Ball

There was no place to sit. The food was awful. (Unless you happen to love cheese cubes and bread.) Despite an already substantial ticket price (face value $150; more if purchased from a scalper), partygoers had to buy their drinks separately.

And people were in heaven.

Welcome to the Democracy Ball, one of nine official inaugural balls celebrating the reelection of President Bush. Eight of the nine were divided up by states. The ninth, the Commander-in-Chief Ball, was for military members and their families. It was held in the National Building Museum, one of the most beautiful public spaces in a city full of glorious public spots.

Most of the other balls took place in the decidedly more prosaic caverns of the Washington Convention Center, complete with exposed duct work. The Democracy Ball included the states of California, South Dakota, North Dakota, Tennessee, Arizona, Kentucky and Utah.

There was virtually nothing elegant about the room except for the hordes of well-dressed Republicans bent on catching a glimpse of the president and First Lady Laura Bush. They began clumping around the stage two hours before the entourage arrived.

“I think they’re probably trying to get into their handshake-picture positions,” said Phillip Mastagni, 25, a Georgetown University law student.

When the president did arrive, hundreds of digital cameras were held aloft, the flashes reminiscent of lighters at rock concerts.

“Thanks for letting Laura and me crash the party,” said Bush, who arrived just after 9:30 p.m. He gave a brief speech extolling his wife, his vice president and freedom, in that order.

“And now if you don’t mind,” he said, “I’d like to ask Laura for an inaugural dance.”

Just as they did for his first inauguration, the couple danced for less than a minute (even though the band was playing “I Could Have Danced All Night”).

Laura Bush’s much publicized gown, an icy-blue beaded number, hugged her slimmer figure. (She has talked publicly about working out, and some reports have pegged her as a size 6.)

The Cheneys had appeared earlier, Lynn in a coral silk jacket with sparkling buttons and a long skirt.

They danced and got a roar from the crowd when the vice president gave his wife a twirl.

Dick Cheney displayed his dry sense of humor when he blew the punch line of a joke. He’d meant to commend South Dakota for ousting longtime Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle in November. Instead he thanked the state for giving the boot to Larry Pressler, a longtime Republican senator from South Dakota who left office in 1997.

“I blew it,” he said. “I totally blew it. Lynn says I don’t get to do that anymore.”

Security around the convention center was rigid. Shivering guests, many of whom were forced to totter several blocks in high heels because of street closures, had to wait in lines to pass through metal detectors.

Members of the media were escorted in and deposited in a press pen, under strict instruction not to leave without an escort.

Chairs were at a premium. One young woman tried to carry in a chair for a relative with multiple sclerosis and was stopped cold by a fire marshal. The chairs could present a hazard in the event of an emergency evacuation, she was told.

John Rowe, 62, and his wife, Margueritte, took the lack of seats stoically. They were sitting on a ledge as low as a curb.

“We’re improvising,” said John. “We were surprised there wasn’t any place to sit, but who cares? We’re here.”

The Bushes blazed through the rest of the inaugural galas, arriving back at the White House by 10:03 p.m., nearly an hour and a half ahead of schedule.